The present invention relates to an automatic coffeemaker for preparing infused beverages using ground coffee coming from a distributor or from a coffee grinder.
An appliance for the preparation and distribution of hot beverages based on ground coffee generally includes a cold water reservoir, an electric pump, an assembly forming a boiler and an infusion head arranged to receive the coffee in ground form in order to inject hot water coming from the boiler into the grounds, the resulting beverage then being directed toward a collecting vessel. At the end of the infusion cycle, the infusion head must be opened in order to be able to introduce therein a new infusion product after having removed the used coffee grounds.
Such an appliance is described in the patent document WO 99/12457, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and concerns an appliance adapted to prepare and automatically distribute espresso coffee. The appliance includes an infusion group having an infusion chamber with a vertical axis arranged to receive a pressing piston sliding along the vertical axis and driven by the piston of a hydraulic jack. The piston of the hydraulic jack is connected to the pressing piston and can pass from a rest position to a work position in which the pressing piston is under compression in the infusion chamber under the effect of the liquid that is under pressure. Passage to the rest position is effected by a return spring, and an ejecting arm is provided to remove the used pellet of coffee grounds exiting from the infusion chamber. The appliance also includes a distributor for ground coffee coming either from a ground coffee storage device, or from a coffee grinder, with the distribution orifice thereof opening into a chute that leads the grounds toward the infusion chamber.
Although machines of this type operate in a generally satisfactory manner, it has been observed that, during use, ground coffee grains become attached to the chute and fall alongside the inlet orifice into the infusion chamber and accumulate within the machine. Moreover, when the quantity of grounds in the infusion chamber is too small, so that the pellet is not sufficiently compacted, the ejection arm can break up the pellet, pieces of which spread into the surrounding area. As a result, clumps of coffee grounds form within the machine, more particularly around the infusion head, which can provoke, eventually, malfunctioning of the machine. This requires disassembly and cleaning of the interior of the machine at regular intervals, a procedure that proves rather difficult and complex in the case of most machines.
Several documents describe coffeemakers having a modular construction and allowing easier access to the interior of the machine in order to reduce the time required for repair. Thus, the patent documents FR 2440720 and EP 0299399, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose coffeemakers having a housing composed of a removable module in the form of a drawer that is mounted to slide on rails and that supports the components of the machine. Such a solution permits a more rapid replacement of a defective module, but nevertheless requires the intervention of a qualified repair technician and removal of certain attachment parts of the module, even the drawer. In addition, those coffeemakers have components that are relatively fragile and that have complex interconnections.
Moreover, the French patent document no. 2 780 261, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, which describes a mixing device for an automatic distributor of hot beverages, discloses a solution that is adapted more particularly to volatile powdered products. The solution proposed in this document consists in arranging, above a mixing space, a lid provided with a distribution funnel and baffles that cooperate with those of an underlying drawer in order to trap and capture the volatile particles of the powder that rise up into the upper part of the mixing space together with injected water vapor. The drawer and its lid can be removed and cleaned when other maintenance is being performed on the machine. However, this device has a number of drawbacks, including the fact that it consists of a large number of parts having complex shapes. In addition, due to the absence of any warning of the occurrence of clogging, and the absence of a direct access to the subassembly to be cleaned, the maintenance technician must, when a decision is made to clean the machine, first remove a part of the housing of the automatic distributor in order to gain access to the part to be cleaned.